Reno Mahe, who played for Brighton, BYU and the Philadelphia Eagles, has his number retired at Brighton Oct. 9, 2009. He pleaded no contest Monday to stealing gasoline from a construction company.
Tom Smart, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — Former BYU and NFL football player Reno Mahe insists he did nothing illegal when he repeatedly filled up his car with gasoline from a construction company without paying.
But he realizes it wasn't his best decision.
"Everyone makes mistakes, but at the same time, did I do anything illegal? No, man," Mahe said after Monday's court hearing. "I would never plead guilty to this. ... That would be a lie."
Instead, Mahe, 32, pleaded no contest to theft, a third-degree felony, before 3rd District Judge Denise Lindberg. The judge said she will hold the plea for 18 months, when it will be dismissed if Mahe has no additional violations of the law and pays the money he owes.
A no-contest plea means that the individual does not admit guilt to the charges but is not willing to fight them through legal proceedings. For sentencing purposes, a no-contest plea is treated the same as a guilty plea.
Lindberg ordered Mahe to pay $2,973 in restitution to A-Core Concrete Cutting and a $500 abeyance fee. Defense attorney Rudy Bautista said the plea means that they concede prosecutors could prove that Mahe took gasoline from Mark Evers, 32, who was working for the construction company, and that Evers was not authorized to take the gasoline.
Mahe and three other men were charged with stealing more than $6,000 in gasoline from A-Core Concrete Cutting between August and October of 2010.
Evers testified that he began stealing gas from his employer in 2006 using a code he created for the company that maintained fuel pumps.
Evers' alleged theft was discovered in October 2010, leading to a review of surveillance tapes dating back to August 2010 that helped police identify Mahe, Tevita Ofahengaue, 38, Michael Andrus, 36, and Fred Prescott, 36.
Evers testified that he told Mahe, a high school friend, that he received free gas as part of his employment package and offered to share with Mahe. All of the defendants have stated that Evers told them the gas was free, but Evers said he made them aware that it wasn't.
Had the case gone to trial, Bautista said he had evidence that Evers was inconsistent on whether he clarified to Mahe and the others that the gas was not part of an employment package. He also said there were as many as 19 potential witnesses willing to testify that Evers "was offering gas to everyone."
